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Connect with Lisa Huff
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Connect with Lisa Huff
Welcome to Stylist Soul Tribe Conversations. I'm your host, Lisa Huff. Over the last five years, I've coached hundreds of hairstylists and beauty industry professionals, helping them work their dream schedules exclusively with their dream clientele, and earn their dream income. income, all while fostering genuine connections and lifelong friendships inside the beauty industry. And this podcast, we dive deep into abundance, manifestation, business building strategies, and creating a life that you are truly proud of both behind the chair and at home. Are you ready to embark on a journey of personal growth, success, and sisterhood then hit that subscribe button now and get ready to experience the pure magic of Silas Old Tribe conversations. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Stylist Soul Tribe Conversations. I am here with my sweet friend, Caitlin. Caitlin has been a member of Stylist Soul Tribe for, has it been two years? I was trying to look back. What is, has it been over two years? How long has it been? I think it's coming up on three years. Okay. 2021. It was summer of 2021, I believe. Yeah, I feel like you joined before. I had the same systems that I have in place now. So like I didn't even know where to go and look for your application. Like you've been in for a long time. I went to the Facebook group to see how long you've been in there and it said two years. So that makes sense that you're coming up on three years. She was raised in North Dakota, but she's currently living in the UK. She has been in the industry since 2011. Same as me. And back in 2022, her husband got military orders. to move overseas. Caitlin stepped away from her super successful business and started teaching beauty pros how to utilize Instagram marketing to fill their books with dream clients. She spends her days now creating content, so much content, pouring into her Real Stylist members and coaching one on one. Caitlin, I've been looking forward to this episode since you booked it weeks ago. How are you doing today? I'm good. I've been really looking forward to it, too. Yeah, I've just, like, I, I, we mentioned, I mentioned this before we started recording, but I just recently started binging all of the episodes of this podcast and, like, I'm just, I'm so fucking proud of how well you have made this podcast That wasn't really worded super well, but I'm just, I'm really proud of how amazing this has turned out. Like, I wasn't really even sure what to expect, but like, you've done such a good job and the conversations are just so, so necessary. And I feel like one of them like the day that I listened to it, I was like, Yep, I needed to hear this today. Yep, this one too. And it just it was it's just been so good. So thank you. I'm just super validating. No and I've said it before, like for years I've wanted a podcast and I don't know what made now feel like the right time. but I just do feel so in alignment that when it's come out, like, I've had so many people say, like, I don't know what you're doing with, like, your voice or the structure of this, but, like, it sounds so good. I'm like, I promise I'm not doing anything. I don't know if it's my microphone. I don't know if it's my software. But I used to think that way, too, of, like, oh, like, these people have this whole, like, system together, and I don't know how to figure that out. And, like, I don't know. I just, I have to say I'm in alignment because I'm very proud of it as well and how everybody's receiving it so far. So thank you for saying that. That means so much to me. I really appreciate it. So why don't we kick off? Obviously, if you've been binging, I like to hear, like, deeper stories from people. And I think there's so many amazing people in my life. I connect with so many people. Obviously, I know. Quite a bit of your story, but I'm sure I'm even going to unpack more today. I'd love for you to just start back on like when feels appropriate to you and share a little bit about like what your journey has been thus far in the industry, in your life, and what makes you. Caitlin. Okay. Yeah. Well, so like Lisa mentioned, I started in the industry. I went to cosmetology school in 2011. I was, I didn't even take the summer off after graduating high school. I just like dipped right into it. I've just kind of been immersed in it ever since. And I like, like she also mentioned, I grew up in North Dakota. I lived there for 28 ish, 29 ish years before moving here to the UK. And. Yeah my hometown is Bismarck, North Dakota. I Worked there for probably, I would say, like, half of my career behind the chair, I would say. Eleven to, hard math, six ish years, I would say, I worked there. Yeah, it's a big span of time. Roughly six years I worked in Bismarck, and I, Started out kind of doing, like, the standard, like, the stereotypical, like right out of school salon, very, like, low wages, very high intensity, worked at a mall, mall salon, basically. And then shortly after I started working there, I moved into a commission salon that was truly, like, my dream salon. I loved it there so much. I learned so much about just I got to dip my toes in the water of doing like aesthetics and it just nails like all of the things. It was, it was such an incredible experience for me. And I think I worked there for about three years. I met my husband now who was just my boyfriend at the time. And I had only been working there for about two years at the time, and he lived at the base, which was an hour and a half north of my hometown. And so we started dating. I, I swear to God, I knew like five months after dating him, I was like, I, this is, this is it. Like, this is the guy. Not to make this about my marriage, but That's cute, though. I love that. But yeah, so I, he actually deployed about five months after we started dating for six months. And so I made the decision before he left, I was like if we want to like actually make this work, like one of us is going to have to move and clearly I'm the one that has to do it. So I made the decision to move an hour and a half north and I, when he got back from deployment, we kind of just like started our life together. We moved into a really small apartment. We adopted two cats like we had such a good thing going and it was, it was a really good time like in my life. Granted. When I moved up there, the salon environment was very different, I learned a lot about what it is like to work on a base as a, on a military base as a stylist, which I don't recommend it to be perfectly honest. No offense to anyone that does that, but it's, it's just as bad as working at a mall salon. I'll just put it at that. So that lasted like a month, like I, I got up there, I had just left my dream salon, and I was like, no, mm mm, can't do this. Yeah, yeah, contrast, huh. So I moved into a commission salon in, in the town that I was living in. And I worked there for five years and it was, to put it gently, it was not great. It was, all of the things that we hear about when it comes to like a toxic salon environment, that salon definitely Tell me more, like say more, because I feel like we hear that and we say that, but I, I just always think of like who's on the other side of the headphones listening to this episode, like what are some examples and when did you know like that was really unhealthy and not where you should be? So I, I kind of knew, I honestly, like, think, looking back at it now, I think I knew in the back of my head, even just, like, the first day that I started working there, I was like, this just doesn't really seem like my vibe. But it was one of the only salons in town that I genuinely thought I could, like, somewhat make work. Was it catty? Was there drama? Like, what, what felt off? There was a lot of old school I don't know how to say it. Mindsets, yeah. Mindset rules, like the pricing structure especially always just frustrated the hell out of me. Because it, it wasn't even a pricing structure that was based off of, actually let me rewind. The pricing structure was an across the board, everyone, Made X amount per service, depending on how long you had worked at the salon. Did you even take into account how long you had been a stylist for? It was how long you were there. So, like, regardless of how many years I worked at the salon, if somebody had been there three years more than me, regardless of how much education they've done, regardless of No matter what numbers you're hitting, there's no way to Yeah. Okay. Interesting. Regardless if they were even taking on new clients or not, because I was one of the very few that would still take new clients. And their pricing structure would always get to be higher than mine because we also did price increases as an entire salon and it was the standard like bullshit 5 per service like not supply and demand based just emotionally based. I, I was in a really, like, I think just a shitty mindset as a military spouse, because I was under the impression that, like, this was all I could do, because my time here is temporary, regardless of where we're at, like, I The I never felt comfortable trying to, like, lay down my own roots, as in, like, opening my own salon or being, going independent, et cetera, because I was like, I'm not going to be here forever. I know that. Even if my husband was stationed there for another 10 years, it would only be until he retires and then we would leave. I have a member in Soul Tribe 2, I won't say her name just because I didn't ask her permission, but she's in a similar boat. They're military. They've lived in the same spot for a long, long, long time. They have no idea when they're going to leave. But she feels so stuck. She's almost in that like white space stage. She doesn't know what her next thing is, but like she's so ready for it. Her business is so successful, but she's just really getting bored. And yeah, she's like, I don't feel comfortable opening a salon because that would be of course the lock. If you do, then you never know. And that, that seems like that can be a very isolating feeling and that probably whether it's military or some other reason holds a lot of people back for many, many years. So I mean, yeah. validating that how you felt and that I know a lot of other people feel that way as well. Yeah. And I mean, looking at it now, like I clearly know that I should have just gone for it because I was miserable for five years and that that was five years is a long time. Yeah. Like I didn't think so. Hindsight looking back, you think you should have opened a salon or what do you think you should have done? Whatever you guys just should have gone independent. I wish I would have just gone independent earlier because I that is what I ended up doing like fight the five year mark hit and we were still in the same location. My husband was still stationed there and we were both kind of getting into the mindset of this is kind of negative, but it was like, it feels like he's never going to get orders somewhere and he doesn't have any control over it. So it was like, I'm not going to keep. Like, hindering myself professionally just based off of a potential something that might not even happen. Like, we have no control over it. Yeah. So, I can't even remember what exactly was the breaking point for me. It was probably just the owner being really shitty to us. And telling us that we were being disrespectful and like treating us like kids basically. Yeah, yeah. And I was finally, I was just like, nope. No, I, I'm not doing this anymore. I had already been in Thrivers for over a year. We were mid pandemic. That was another issue, was just how things were being handled in a commission salon with the pandemic. It was a real issue. And also, I mean, we all know it was a very high Intensity very, like, politically charged time. So, like, it was just not a fun time to be anywhere. Yeah, yeah, but let alone in a space that's already toxic. And maybe, yeah, that's, I know I was so grateful to be in a suite during that time. And I think a lot of people felt the same. So that's about when you joined Soul Tribe then, fair to say? Like, you weren't independent for too long. Yeah, I had actually, so I opened my studio I think I moved in in February and then I joined Soul Tribe that July, so I had only been open for a couple of months. Oh yeah, I don't even know if I knew that. I just always knew you. I can like picture your suite still in the videos that you would make in it. Yeah I mean, of course Hindsight is 2020, like, I wish I would've done a lot of stuff sooner. Of course. But, I mean, also, like, You've already had Brit on the podcast, so most people kind of, like, know the Thrivers kind of, like, flow, so, like, I had only been in Thrivers for a year at that point, so, like, looking at it as well, I probably wouldn't have been ready to go into Penny. That's true, without having all those. It was so much that I, yeah, before Earth Rivers I didn't know like hardly anything, so it probably was the timing that it needed to be, I just wish I would have, just wish I would have realized but again, I, it was, it was a really great experience. The one year that I did have in my suite, it was almost to the day that I was in my suite for a year we, my husband got orders to the UK that December, so It was just kind of like an absolute shit storm after that. In that period of time, I remember so clearly, like, I remember getting on a Soul Tribe call and you being like, we're, I'm closing my studio, we're moving to another country did you already, I mean, you were creating a lot of content then you were clearly drawn to Instagram. You were drawn to this. Remind me how that timeline went out. Did you know you like wanted to go the educating route? Was this just like your final push? Were you already offering things? How did that all play out into then this becoming like your full time gig? So I, not to make this all about Thrivers, but it kind of all ties together for me. So I, I was actually going back through the modules probably right before my husband got orders actually, like just a couple of months before that. And I remember going through the whole like zone of genius thing. And like, there was one phrase that really stuck out to me in a training that was like, What is something that you do really well that other people ask you to help them with that no one else really does? And it was like, it like blew my brain because I, it wasn't even slightly hair related. I was like, oh, it's Reels. It's Instagram Reels. Yeah. And so to, like, give some context to that, I, when Reels came out in, it was, like, late 2020 when they first launched. When Reels came out, it was, like, a phenomenon. Like, it wasn't just, like, any other feature. Like, basically, if you were paying attention to social media, you know, conversations at all. It was like, this is the only thing you can do to survive. You better jump on the real train. Like, and then also Instagram was like inflating reels. We were seeing a lot, everybody was seeing a lot of success by doing reels. So it was kind of that perfect timing that that happened. And so you decided, let me help other people and just give them some tips and tricks of what I'm doing and how it's working so well. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of where it started, and it ended up being so much different than that, but I, that was my initial idea. I was just like, oh, I think I might actually, like, really have something here. And then when my husband got orders, like, literally weeks later, I was like, oh, I'm, this, this is like, it's now or never. It's either I go for this full, full on, or I try to do hair and make, maybe make this happen, but like. It just, you have that already that was, like, so exciting to you that, like, to me, that felt, like, so in alignment of, like, if not now, then when? Like, when would you drop everything else and do this? It kind of seems like you were being pushed in that direction. Absolutely. And I guess a few years have passed now. I guess what does that look like in your, in your life now because it's evolved quite a bit and you are just like a marketing genius and my so there it's a lot more than just Instagram reels at this point. Yeah. Well, I guess I before I dive into that, I guess I'll kind of like explain how I got into reels because I didn't really like. Okay. I touch on that a ton. Like, for me, I've always really been drawn to Instagram especially with Reels. I just, I found the, like, creative side of it really enjoyable. It was, I consider myself a relatively tech savvy person, so I was like, oh, this is kind of fun. It's just, like, a quirky way to, like, make content, and it's, it's more exciting to me. Get creative with it. Yeah. Yeah, you can be more, more creative than just like a back of the head picture because at the time like front face front facing photos of the hair were still becoming popular, but they weren't like as mainstream as they are now. Yeah. So I was like, man, this just seems so much more exciting than like trying to like snap a selfie or like take a picture of the back of somebody's head. Yeah. So I dove into that and I ended up seeing a lot of success with it, but it was, it wasn't the kind of success that I necessarily wanted as a business owner, because I, I, what I know now, I wish I would have known then, but again, of course, hindsight I had, because, because Instagram was regularly pushing out reels, like, in droves, like, I had quite a few posts go viral, and I was like, oh my god, my career has finally taken off. Yeah. It was so exciting at the time, but like, now what I know about going viral and how that's really not great for your business, like. Yeah. Because you get when you go viral, you have so many random ass people that will follow you, which is cool for like your own vanity metrics and like for your ego and stuff like that, but like at the end of the day, you're still a business that's trying to market to buyers and not all of these people are going to be buyers because they just like your content. So knowing that now it's a much different ballgame, but, yeah, everything, everything kind of started with Reels for me, and once, once we did move to the UK, I had already made the decision that I wasn't gonna pursue doing hair out here just for a multitude of reasons, but it really did just kind of feel like this was The perfect time to give it a go if I was going to do it. And I mean, flash forward, I, we ended up, both of our cats ended up passing away right before we moved, like weeks before we moved. Right before the retreat. It was like the week before the retreat. Yeah. It was it was a mentally Very dark time for me. Not to dive too deep into that, but it was the first quarter of that year was really, really stressful. Probably the most stress I've ever been under. Like, I started like having like an eye spasm, like a little twitch going on and I started losing my hair. It's like, oh my gosh, I need to like get a handle on this. And you think it's fair to say the combination of everything like your life just got fully uprooted, plucked out, shaken up, you know, mix grief and mix being away from your family, mix all of the things, adapting to a time change, you know, creating content by yourself, like, yeah, that is a lot. That is a lot. And I know I've been through like energy trifecta with you. You've been to, you know, a couple of retreats. Like I've watched kind of your journey and like you and I also love how much you share that with other people. Like I really do think that that's almost like a bit of your niche is that like sweet spot of like marketing but also being a human and how important that is. So looking back, so that was what? First quarter of 2022? Yes, that was the first bit of 2022. And then right after we got here, I actually had started working for Hunter for a little while, and that was fantastic. Like, it was wonderful. It was exactly what I needed to, like, give me some kind of, like, stability and, He was so gracious and, like, dealt with all of my mental health struggles, so it was that was really good. But I kind of just, like, let my own desire for becoming an educator, like, take the back burner for most of the year, honestly. And it, it was needed, like, I, There's always things that we want to change about it when we look back on it, but I wasn't in a mentally good place. You wouldn't have been creating from a good space anyway. No, no. And so I did end up launching a course that year. It was the November of 2022. And I, even now, I still almost wish that I wouldn't have. Like, I am grateful that I did, but I did it for the wrong reasons, I think. Interesting. It was like a scarcity mindset and I, I had put myself in under so much pressure. Like I wanted to get it out this year. I'm like, it's November. I have to get it out right now. So like, I just worked myself into like oblivion and I felt like I didn't serve the people that were in my course as much as I could have if I had done it in a better way. But I mean, I still am very grateful for it. And I know that people got a lot of value out of it. There was value in it. But just knowing where I was at mindset wise and just how just burnt out I was, to be honest, like, it, it really put me in a weird funk for quite a while. Totally. And also I think it's that post pandemic, just kind of universal mindset that a lot of people were in. Burnout was definitely. And I mean, it's. still kind of is. So, like, looking back from, obviously, that really dark time to I think you're in a much better place, but it always comes in waves. Like, what's your kind of, like, journey with mental health at this very moment? I Mean, mental health is something that I, I mean, like you said, I do try to talk about this stuff pretty openly with people because it is still a conversation that is, has a lot of stigma behind it, and people are really embarrassed to talk about mental health, but I, I don't know, I've almost, like, desensitized myself to it now, but. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's something that you have to give yourself grace with every single day. Like, there's gonna be some days, some weeks, some months that are just, like, amazing. Like, I can't believe my life is so, so good right now. And then there's gonna be some days, weeks, months where you're like, I don't think I can get any lower than I already am right now. Yeah. And. That's, I think that that's such a normal thing, especially as a business owner, because we are our own worst critics, and we're in charge of all of the things. Like, it, there is nobody in charge of us if we're the business owner, so like, we have to make so many really, really tough decisions, and it's very mentally taxing. It is. So, I don't know, for me, I, this last year, in 2023, I really, going into the year, I was still kind of in a really weird, burnt out funk, and then Quarter two was kind of where I was like, okay, we know we're no more of this. Like we have to like start making some big shifts here. And so I really, really went hard on like my morning routine. I was like, I have to have a schedule. I, I'm a very, I'm a scatterbrained ADHD girly, so I, routine is like something I have to have in my life or like my days just aren't productive and so I really, really got into like my morning meditations and I was just really trying to pour back into myself. Yeah. And that had its own mental struggles because, like, my internal thoughts were like, well, you're being lazy, you're not working enough, like, all of those things, but at the same time, like, allowing myself to be, like, quote unquote selfish for a little while, it was exactly what I needed. It's such a fucking fine line to try to walk of, like, I want to be productive, I want to, like, I have this drive in me, I feel lit up when I'm pursuing something big, and then also, like, Eventually, you're going to crash and burn if that's all you're doing. And then once you crash and burn, how long do we stay still for? Like, that is literally almost every single Soul Tribe call when we, when it comes time for homework. I, I was just having a conversation on Friday where someone was just like, I'm just not super inspired right now. And I'm like, girlfriend, that's okay. Like you have been busy. You have been active. You did a ton of stuff in November. Like she had a really, really busy holiday season business wise. And she was like, I'm like, just let it, like, take a rest month. And she was like, well, I don't want to take a rest. I'm like, okay, fair, you know, like, and there are times that we need it. And there are times that we aren't, and it's a super fine line. Cause if you almost get too comfortable, either end of the pendulum, like it can become too much. And I think just keeping that on track and I have found, obviously, that's why I have soul tribe, but like, I have found having those people around you to like, be able to notice that of like, okay, you've been doing that. Quite a few months now. Where, how can we help you find that spark again? And or, dude, you're burning on both ends. You can only be running this fast for so long. Let's take a beat, right? So I think that's super helpful is finding those people and having those conversations. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. Definitely. I, there's been so many times when I didn't even know that I needed it where like my, my tribe would check in on me and be like, I haven't heard from you in a while. Or like, how, how's this going this week? Like, and it's just like those really subtle reminders where it's like, oh yeah, no, I have kind of been like becoming a hermit this week or like it's, it makes it so much easier for me to catch myself as I'm kind of like at the very start of a spiral. And it helps me to not spiral then as well because it keeps me accountable in that way. And there's something about, like, that relationship where, like, you've given people permission to do that, where, like, if my husband says that to me, I might get really annoyed, or if, like, my mom says that to me, or, like, something like that, I might get, like, really defensive and salty, but there's something about, like, that format where it's, like, oh, no, these people, like, actually do have the right to call me on that, and, like, that is their job here, so, like, I better, you know, take a pause and look in the mirror real quick and see if that's the case. I also feel like in Soul Tribe, so many of these, like And like you said, you listen to mine and Leisha's kind of all over the place chit chat episode. It's sometimes so complex to, like, talk about. I don't even know which direction to go and how to put my words into place, but we Are so digital. Obviously you to your whole business is about around Instagram and marketing were so digital. And that causes like a lot of stress for so many people. And so I guess like, what is your take on like, clearly you think these things are important yet you think mental health is important. How much do we prioritize this in our business? And where is that sweet spot for you of like, here's how you market, here's how you keep showing up without feeling like, oh, I'm a hamster running on a wheel and I'm not inspired by that, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So this one's kind of layered, I feel like. Because even I don't have the perfect answer because there really isn't a perfect answer. It changes all the time for what you need in that moment. Yeah. And it's, it's subjective to each person too. Because like my time allowance is much different than the average stylist. Because like I don't work behind the chair anymore. Whereas most of the people that are listening to this right now probably still do. And so I have a lot more time that I can put into creating content. Whereas they probably have like a couple hours a week period. Like no more than that. And I definitely understand that. So. I think for me, just really trying to find balance is, it's very difficult, but it is doable. It's just, it's a lot of trial and error. I feel like you just have to give it a try for a month or three months whatever you're trying to do and see how it goes, take notes if something isn't working, change it, like tweak it a little bit. There's, I feel like we get so stuck in the cycle of trying to stick to a certain strategy or plan or outline and make it work like for years or months. And I mean, honestly, most of us can only make that work for like two to three weeks tops. Well, that's what I was going to say. And I don't know if it's. It's clearly not just me, but I feel like my relationship with creating content and my relationship, which I'm the same as you like to, this is always in script. It's been a shiny, exciting, fun thing. Like there are some people that are like, I hate it. Okay. If you hate it, I'm not going to convince you otherwise, but like, I've always been drawn to it. I've been into it as it was on the rise. I was like, I want to, you know, capitalize on this, find my space. And that's like, it was always exciting to me, but I absolutely go through like. Like you said, I don't know if it's weeks or months, but there's chunks of time where My strategy, quote unquote, it's not even an intentional strategy, my relationship with it changes all the time. Sometimes I'm batching, sometimes I'm planning, sometimes that feels icky and I'm posting in the moment. My, lately, my strategy, which I'm kind of loving this setup, which I know cannot be the case for everybody, but is this almost like recycling of content. Capture something really big and long form, chop it up, that's so much easier for me. I don't know if you want to share this, because I know you said you were holding off, so like, I think we can probably go there because you want to test this out, but I know you also like to play with like, let me craft a theory. Let me test it. Let me see how it works. You want to explain what you're doing right now? Because I think it's really neat. And even if it's not like a proven method, if somebody's listening to this and they're like, I could do something kind of like that and repeat what you're doing in their own business. Yeah. Totally. So this is actually something I'm going to be going over in a workshop that I'm doing at the end of the month for my Instagram subscribers. You can plug it. When is the workshop? January 29th, I believe. When did you say this comes out? Probably the 31st. That's okay. Well, regardless, the replays are always up, too, if anyone wants to join that. We'll put the way to join the subscription in the show notes. Yeah, keep going. So, more or less, again, this is not like a proven method by any means, but it's been something that I've been doing now since October, and it's actually helped me to be sustainable with how much I'm showing up. I've created a Cyclical slash recyclable content, like, schedule, essentially, and it leaves wiggle room each week for X amount of posts that I want to create more in the moment or that I want to, like, plan more off the cuff but. Let's, let's do some like really simple math here. So like, let's say that I wanted to post four times a week. Part of my cyclical calendar is two to three of those posts in a week are going to be predetermined planned, recycled, they'll be planned. And then within like a six to eight week period, that whole cycle of content ideas will be gone through and then the cycle will restart. Does that make sense how I just explained that? Yeah, and when Kaylin was explaining this to me in a Soul Tribe call, she said the way she came up with that concept is she was searching other people's Instagrams that she admired, felt like they had a good content strategy, and she realized that she never scrolled further than eight weeks back. That's when it felt appropriate to kind of repeat something. Yeah, just, yeah, just like based off of a person's profile grid, I felt like basing it off of like swipes, like I felt like three to four swipes, like I don't really think anyone's gonna do much more than that. And I've always been a really big advocate for recycling content because on average, like less than 5 percent of your followers are actually going to see your posts. So even if it's like doing one post, that's the exact same every single month. The odds are that a lot of people aren't going to know that it's being recycled. So, I, I just wasn't ever really sure how to recycle content in a way that was actually gonna be like realistic for myself as opposed to being like, I don't know what to post this week. Yeah. Yeah. So, I, yeah, I've just kind of been trying out this cycle. I'm currently, I think I'm in the middle of cycle two, so that's kind of why I'm just now starting to talk to my subscribers about it because I told them about it, I hinted about it, but I didn't want to give them any, like, Give this a try if you want to advice without having like actual data to base it off of. Yeah. And it certainly isn't a perfect plan. Yeah. But for me, cause my, my goal right now is I want to try to post five days a week. I figure with the amount I'm trying to do three, three out of the five posts are from the cycle. So it's helped me to do that for, I mean, Close to 12 weeks at this point, I mean, and then you only need it. So you're saying you only are creating one or two pieces of content that's new each week and recycling old ones, but there's a strategy to what is being recycled. Now, if somebody were to be like, okay, I'm, I want to listen to this podcast episode. I want to feel inspired after it and start like pulling out my post it notes and planning. How did you even, like, are you a, Okay. content pillar, you know, gal, like what, where did you even like start with this concept? So more or less, yes, it is kind of based off of content categories. Also really leaned in on the concept of basically I wanted to walk the walk as well for what I tell people. And that is no one knows you have an offer unless you talk about it. I was so guilty of not talking about my offers. Yeah. Because it's the same tale as old as time. Like, you just don't want to sound salesy. You all feel icky whenever it comes time to sell something. Yeah. And I mean, that's a whole other topic for a different day. But yeah, more or less, I was like, okay, I need to at least be talking about, like, my, my freebies a couple times a week. I want to talk about my subscription a couple times a week. So I kind of just based it off of those and made those into their own categories. So each of my freebies has a like a topic list within it. And then my subscriptions has like its own category. And then anything that isn't within the cycle I just kind of will plan like a month in advance. Like whatever I'm like feeling inspired to plan. But the stuff that gets cycled through is almost entirely talking about like my offers or my freebies. How could you translate that into someone working behind the chair? Like what would those offers look like? So, what I typically coach to with content categories is having something that is going to be easy to pick from. So, like, let's say you are a extension specialist. Mm hmm. So, one of your content categories should be the obvious one. It should be photos and videos of your work, of your extensions. Yeah. Mm hmm. Educating around that. Yeah. Exactly. Like, anything having to do with your specialty, that should be one of your categories. Another category should probably be something having to do with yourself. Just because people want to know you as well as what the hair you do. They also want to know who's going to be doing it. Yeah. And then anything in addition to that, a typical one that I like to reference is like guest experience because people love to know like the vibes, they love to know what they're getting themselves into when they walk up. So that's a great category to pull from. And just kind of basing it off of that, like whatever your ideal client is more or less going to be attracted to. Yeah. And you could even make, like, something simple like FAQs a category, like, what are some frequently asked questions and just, like, pull from that each week. Mm hmm. So, like, let's say you wanted to make a cyclical calendar out of those ideas, so If you want to post four times a week, I mean, you could, you could quite literally make every single post part of the cyclical thing without having to plan stuff off the cuff. You could do, let's say, Mondays are your extension specialty posts. Who's days are your about you posts Thursdays because we'll do only four weeks. So you'll have Wednesday off Thursdays. You can talk about FAQs answer an FAQ Fridays. You can talk about guest experience and then just cycle back through that week after week after week. And that just helps to take a literal shitload of guesswork out of creating content because. There is nothing more stressful. I mean, there are plenty of things more stressful, but in the marketing world, it is really, really stressful, like, opening your app and not having any, not the slightest plan for what you want to do for the day. Like, I'm gonna spend three hours trying to create a post today because I don't have any idea what I'm doing, and that's just it's not sustainable. Yeah. And I, I'm all about sustainability. I'm all about saving time. Like, I, I don't want people to have to spend hours every single day on the app because it's not good for your mental health. Like point blank, like even myself who lives on the app, like there are months sometimes where I have to take the whole month off because I'm like, I need to unplug. Like it's necessary to not be on there all the time. So yeah, that's more or less how I would take all that guesswork out of it. I love that idea. That sounds beautiful. Another thing, which is like when you were talking about the blank page, I feel like I really love using this for being the. blank page, and I know you've been pretty public about your thoughts around like, ChatGPT and stuff, too. We like, totally talked about it during the resource fair, which I can't even wait to start planning next year's resource fair. How are you utilizing AI right now? Because it's always changing. I have gotten to the point where I'm so dependent on my robot. I'm using ChatGPT every single day. Do you pay for the Plus version or no? I don't. Okay, it's so good. I paid for it and then my debit card expired and I was like, oh, maybe I'll just like let it go and then I instantly wanted it again and I re opted it because it is so much better. So yeah, how are you using AI right now? Do you have any thoughts that, I mean, I don't think I've talked about it at all on the podcast so even if it feels a little bit juvenile, like, share what you're thinking about it. So I, I am an advocate for using it for copywriting. Like, I won't apologize for that. I do definitely understand why there are a lot of people that are really upset about, like taking art from artists and, like, pulling, pulling different resources and stuff like that. Oh, and if we let ourselves get too deep, I mean, it very quickly feels like a Black Mirror episode. It very quickly, quickly feels like the end of humanity. But not going that route because obviously that's a lot. So for me, I typically use it just, I mean, more often than not, I use it to help me with captions just because I have an idea for a caption and I at least need somewhere to start most of the times. Like I honestly, a lot of the times I do end up editing it quite a bit just because I want to like do my own thing with it. But so long as it can kind of give me like a basic outline that helps out a lot. Same with like blog posts or email writing. Pretty much anything that's like long form writing, it's really, really useful for. And more than anything, I use it for I, I call it like my personal assistant. I just, I just have like one long thread, like that I just keep going and going and going with it. So like I've told it everything about my business. I've told it everything about like how I like. interact with stylists. And so it, it knows who I am pretty well in that specific thread. So I don't necessarily have to go in every single time and be like, this is what I do. This is who I serve. This is blah, blah, blah, blah. And give it like the 15 points. I can just be like, based off of what I've previously given you, I need to know about X, Y, Z. Can you give me an outline for this? And that's really, really helpful. Let me touch on this real quick now that I'm trying to get everyone to sign up, because I do also think it's kind of a load of shit that we do have to pay for the better version now, because that wasn't supposed to be the goal originally, but when you do pay for it, you can type in all that prerequisite information where it just knows that and it also now searches the web in real time, so anything that's been published on the internet, it now knows. So now that I'm like starting to have blog posts and podcast transcriptions and all these, it's like knowing so. But again, that's like also kind of horrifying if you let yourself think about it too long. So like, we're not trying to get into the moral debate because I totally understand the fear there. But I mean, I'm like you. If you can't beat it, join it in some extent. It's definitely not going anywhere. And I just, it reminds me, it also helps that I joined the mastermind when it was coming out, and the guy who leads my mastermind is also very pro AI, he's very on the tip of like, what is coming out and how to, how to navigate that and be on, you know, that side of it. But I just think of it, From the most basic level, I mean, back when I, me and you were in high school, we would have, you know, oh, you can't use your calculator because when you grow up, you're not going to have a calculator in your pocket all the time. Like, it is that on times infinity because it's like, One, our kids, which I haven't started showing this to my kids yet or anything, but I wonder what that's going to look like, but us being young adults, not having a navigation around how this works and learning with it as it's growing, because it's already crazy how much it's growing. That's just my own personal take on it. Like, I find it fascinating. I find it exciting. Find a little bit eerie. little bit freaky, but I always lead on the, lean on the side of optimism. So that's where I'm at with all of that. I had another thought I wanted to go with AI, but I can't, I lost it. Oh no, I found it. There it is. aNother thing I've been doing, and I've never thought about this, like how to teach stylists, how to do this. Cause obviously, like I said, this content model that I've been flowing with. Record the podcast, chop it up, do a bunch of things with it. I'm doing it all myself. It's actually really fun because it's still new. I'm sure eventually it'll get very boring and I'll want to train someone else to do it, but it's still very fun. But what I'm doing personally, so I'm going to tell you guys what I'm doing. If any of you are educators or anything like that, you're going to love this portion. If you're a hairstylist, like how does this work for me? I have some ideas for you. So I'm recording long form content either by myself or like what Caitlin and I are doing here. I'm taking the transcription from every single one of those podcasts. It takes me like, five minutes would be a lie. It takes me like. less than an hour to get all of this done. So I finish this recording with Caitlyn. I download the video, grab the, pluck the transcription from it, plug the transcription into ChatGPT because I have the paid version. It has like extra long data entry that you can enter in. So like there's no limit. It can read the whole entire thing. And I say, Here's a podcast transcription from an episode I just recorded. Give me 15 possible titles. Sometimes the titles are shit. Sometimes they are good. Okay, great. Now I'm going to use this title. Write the podcast show notes for me. Copy and paste. It's so easy. Now write the YouTube description for me. Copy and paste. It's so easy. Now write a blog post. That's SEO optimized. That goes along with this transcription. Boom, done. Now. Chop this up into however many pieces of content or whatever and what I was just thinking while you were saying all that like how does that relate to stylists? There's an app called Otterpilot. There's a bunch of apps that do audio transcriptions. And so you can if you're somebody that struggles with like typing and you want to utilize AI but like Caitlin said, you can easily spot a full on chat GBT caption like you it definitely takes a little bit of like spice to work with it, but you could. Yeah. Pull out like your voice memo and just start chatting. Pretend like you're recording a podcast. Like nobody ever is going to hear it. Don't be embarrassed. Record a video of yourself and just think of like things that your clients have asked you that you know is so valuable and just start going on a tangent about it. Block that transcription. Plug that into chat GPT and say, I'm not help creating content around this. Let's make five Instagram posts, two TikToks a blog post, a long form like face educational Facebook, like it doesn't even have to be video, a carousel. How can I break this into key points on a carousel? There's so much you can do with it. And I like using it for that, of just being able to like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all of my thoughts out. And then the time that it has shaved off, the amount of time it would have taken somebody to do all the things I just listed is, yeah. A week of work like it's crazy. Yeah. I remember when it was shortly after it first launched last year or no, it would have been not last year now 2022 when it launched. I was in the process of creating a sales page from scratch and I literally, I mean, this is some like a process creating a sales page on a website would take me probably like two to three days on average, like writing out all the copy. Yeah. It's a lot of work. And by using chat GPT, and this was like before I really even knew how to use like the like the tone of voice prompts and stuff like that, like, I was able to crank that out in like two to three hours, which just, it blew my mind. I was like, holy shit. Okay, so like selfishly, what are you saying? Like first give me an outline for a sales page and then breaking down each chunk? Or like, what are you plugging into it selfishly? Yeah I think, Trying to remember back. I think what I did was I asked it for a standard like flow or outline of how a sales page should look and And I think I gave it some prompts about like what the sale was about offer and it basically gave me like prompts of what I should have on the page and then based off of those prompts, I was like, okay, I want to start writing this portion. Can you give me X amount of paragraphs to talk about these things having to do with the actual sale that was going on? And it was so quick, like, I also remember you saying at the retreat, sorry to interrupt, this just popped into my head, you saying something to ChatGPT, ask me clarifying, so like, I need to make a sales pitch, here's what I need to do, ask me clarifying questions that will help you build it, and then let ChatGPT ask you questions, and then you answer all the questions, and then what it spits out to you is wild. I, I can't take credit for that, cause I just saw that online somewhere, somebody was doing that too, but yeah, I mean, it changed the game for me, I was like, holy shit, like, you can ask it. What you need to tell it. Huh. And it'll tell you what to tell it. That's crazy. And then it will, it's so meta. Like, it's so weird. Give me these things and then I'll be able to properly give you like the best outcome. And it blew my mind. So, yeah, that, that one specifically was like super wild. And then, like, understanding the tone of voice prompts as well. I'm sure we'll talk about this at some point too, but I'll bring it up now. Like, I do have a free resource that talks all about stuff like this just because that is typically the most common complaint amongst people is like, I haven't read me a caption, but it sounds like shit. Like, it sounds nothing like me. Like, yeah, if you only give it certain prompts without any, like, tone of voice Prompts as well. It's going to sound like a robot wrote it like 100%. Yeah, so knowing what what to feed it and Knowing how to edit it and give it different like tweaks and stuff like that. And then also Editing it yourself if needed. That's a huge thing. But Yeah, it's just, it's, it's such a cool resource to be able to use just for time saving purposes and again, like, I'm all about saving time because it's, I mean, it's our, it's our greatest thing that we have and we never get it back. Is there anything else you really want to go over, Caitlin? Any other thoughts you have? Anything else you want to share? Let me look really quick here because I did actually take some notes while I was listening to your podcast. I just had like things come up for me. So there were there were quite a few things that you talked about in a recent episode about like expectations, like setting expectations and how they can kind of, like, throw a curveball and everything. And, like, there was a talk about social media detox. And I think we've kind of covered some of stuff like that. But I What came up for you for expectations? We haven't talked about that at all. What, like, what, where does that stem from? Because that's something I could literally go on and on and on and on. Like, becoming a coach, it's made me realize 99 percent of the time. That's the root issue. If someone expected a different result and they're really tripped up about the result they ended up getting. So like, what does that mean to you? Why'd you write that down? So I actually, I really resonated with what Leisha was saying about setting really high expectations for myself and I, I, I really, really related to that because I, I'm such a, I'm, I'm a huge perfectionist to a fault and I am very much a I want it to be perfect before anyone sees it kind of person and I mean letting go of that is something that I'm getting better at but it just, I feel like expectations that I set for myself or like for my business are what at the end of the day ends up making me second guess myself and that's when like my inner critic comes in and is like, Girl, what you doing? Yeah, yeah. Who do you think you are? Why would you do any of this? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And Yeah, I don't know. I just, I found it to be a really relatable conversation, I guess. So how do you catch that, then? Because I honestly, I don't think I put, I mean, I have high expectations for myself, but I never get, very rarely, do I get disappointed by not hitting. Like, I'm not a perfectionist. I'm probably gonna hardly add to this episode these things that are like, are like, should that have been cut out? Like, it just, for me, I'm just like, get it done. Be real. Like, what, what is your takeaway from that? How do you lean away from that? Because I know so many people are that way, that perfectionism way. Like, how are you learning to learn? Pull away from that.'cause I'm sure it does have its perks. Obviously you've got a killer brand and a good identity of course, because of how you want people to perceive you. But like how are you getting away from the negative part of that? I mean, to be honest, like it's not something that I am really away from Uhhuh. Like I feel like it's something I have to kind of like tackle every single day. Yeah. And which is fine because I don't expect to just get over that overnight, but just being able to say just awareness is number one. Yes. Like being able to recognize what, like, what, what, why am I feeling this way right now? Like, why am I second guessing what I'm doing? Like, why am I disappointed with like where I'm at in my business right now? It's like, oh, because I set a really high expectation for myself that wasn't even realistic. Mm. And. Having that, like, realization is, like, it kind of feels like you're, like, hitting a brick wall over and over, but, like, it's such a needed reality check because, especially in the perfectionist, like, mindset, we aren't really people that can do things without them being perfect. So, like, I feel like expectations are always really high, like regardless of the task at hand or anything really, it's just like, I need to be the best, I need to be perfect, and nothing less than that will do. Okay, I'm gonna get really deep with it. Did that like, do you think that came from like you being a kid, like was that like sports, was that grades, like where does that come from? I mean it definitely the way that I was raised, like I'm definitely a product of my parents in that regard. Like. Yeah, definitely a product of my parents. My mom is very much a perfectionist. Things need to be exactly the way that she wants them to be or they're wrong. My, my dad is actually like OCD and like a big hoarder, but like, that doesn't, that doesn't matter. But the OCD part, like, he is like, You see where that comes from. Oh yeah, like, and I mean, there's so much like, With all of the mental health work that I've been doing over the last year, like, I've realized a lot about how I was raised has, like, massively affected me, even to this day. But, like, even just, like, small stuff like that, like, realizing, like, just the way that my parents would Act not even necessarily on purpose to influence us like it always influenced us. So it's like, oh, yeah, no, it was their own subconscious beliefs that you then picked up on. Totally, totally. And I mean, that there's lots to unpack with that too. But it's, again, just like recognizing that, like, this is like a learned thing. And I need to like be actively trying to kind of like break out of that in whatever ways that I can, like, you know, I'm probably never going to stop being a perfectionist to a certain level, but like, I definitely have made progress in the sense of like, I don't really feel the need to how do I want to say it, like, I, I know you're a big fan of, like, fast, messy action, and I love the concept, I really do. I just, I, I personally can't do that. I just can't. Yeah. But I feel like I've been able to find kind of, like, a middle ground for that. Okay. I can still take some messy action, but it's not necessarily fast, or vice versa, like, I can take fast action, but it's not necessarily messy. Slow, thoughtful action. Action! Because that was going to be my next question, is like, okay, you say you're working through it every day, but I know there's people listening to this that are perfectionists that don't. Ever put themselves out there and there's dream after dream after idea after idea and seven years past and they were like, I didn't bring any of that to life because they couldn't get past that. But you are still someone who says they deal with it every day. That is still putting something out there. What is that? I, I don't even know if I can like quite fully put into a word, like what that is specifically, but it really is like a lot of like mindset work on my own end. Like, for whatever reason, the first thing that popped into my head was talking about like back when I was behind the chair, like being able to be comfortable. Like firing a client that stuff like that, like standing up for yourself that for me, I feel like the confidence almost. Yeah, and in a way it's like once you do it to you're like, Oh, yeah, that was great. Nothing can stop me. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's little things where you learn to like, trust yourself, I guess. And, I mean, not to say that I always trust myself, but I do definitely trust myself a lot more than I used to, and I mean, knowing now, too, that's probably more of an intuitive thing. Mm hmm. But Yeah, I, I know so many people are afraid of putting themselves out there and, like, people judging them, especially, like, to tie this back to Instagram, for example, it's the number one thing that people are always concerned about is, like, I don't want my face on camera, like, I don't want people to see me, I'm afraid of being judged, and there's just, there's so many fears. Everyone's gonna be different with, like, wanting, or being willing to do stuff like that, but I feel like just, like, when you do finally, Like give yourself permission to put yourself out there. That's kind of like the like first part of like the snowballing effect of like, Oh, this isn't so bad. Like I can compounding. It's stepping. So it's these tiny little confidence builders that you can look back on and say, Oh, that was really scary. I thought I was going to die. Everything in my brain told me I was going to die if I did this. But then I did it and now I'm happy that I did it because it was the right move. And now I have, not only did I get rid of that issue, firing the client for example, but now I also have this proof that I'm capable of doing something like that again. So then the next one, maybe you do it a little quicker because you're like, remember last time I didn't die when I thought I was going to die and continuing to do those over and over and over again every time they show up for you. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. I, I mean, it, it goes from, it comes from a lot of different areas, like advocating for yourself is definitely one of them, trusting yourself is definitely one of them. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I, I think the question that we always need to ask ourselves, like, for you listening to this, like, if you are in a position where, like, you do have those fears come up regularly, like, just ask yourself, like, what is the worst thing that can happen? Because, I mean, our brains do really, really do tell us, like, I'm gonna die. Like that's like, the like, the caveman brain kicks in, they're like, nope, nope, that means death. Fight or flight. It's like, that is so far from the truth, like, worst case scenario, like. You feel really uncomfortable for five minutes and then it's over. Yeah. And. So, like, really being able to recognize, like, what the actual worst case scenario is, I feel like, can help a lot with, like, at least, to a certain degree, overcoming the fears. Mm hmm. And yeah, I mean, it is something you get comfortable, more comfortable with it over time, too, so, like, yeah. Love. Love. I'm glad we went that expectations route. Instagram is a tool. Your business is not on Instagram. You could delete your account today and your business would still be open tomorrow. Like, none of it matters at the end of the day. It is purely just you marketing yourself to try and get more clients. Yeah. And it's not that deep. And find what feels in alignment for you. Like, there's people in Soul Tribe that are not on Instagram at all that are Bursting the seams with new requests from word of mouth from Google like just find what it is for you If you're anything like Caitlin and I you are a little drawn to it and it's also okay if you're drawn to it But also have a weird relationship with it, you know But this isn't to like convince anyone you need to be doing this or you're gonna die I had just on this whole tribe called The other day, someone asked me, she was trying to come up with content strategies, she was like, So, is it like, okay to still just like, do like, a graphic and a caption? Like, can I plan a bunch of content and do that? And I'm like, that was such a weird question to me. I, I mean, I get why they asked that, but I'm like, Who the fuck am I to tell you if you can post a graphic? Like, What do you mean? Is that what you want to post? Are you consuming content like that? Does that feel in alignment right now? Like, the rules, I'm so sick of the rules. Like, I understand spotting trends, but, like, it so quickly becomes so used up and, again, regurgitated this word I keep using on this podcast, but, like, it, what even is the, is this okay to do now? Like, that, Fuck that. I, I couldn't agree with you more. Like I, I feel like it's, it has become such a regurgitated situation. Everybody is kind of just like copy and pasting the same shit over and over and I mean they're, I understand like trying to make content quickly and like I like this trend, I'm going to do this trend, totally support that. But when it's literally just saying the same shit over and over and like. It doesn't even really like pertain to you or your business anymore. It's like, what's even the point? Like, is this actually going to get you clients that what you're posting? So I don't know. I'm all about like feelings with, with content because at the end of the day, if you're not loving what you're posting, consume it. Like, let that be the question. Yeah, exactly. Like, so something that I always say to ask yourself when you're right before you go to hit post is like, ask yourself. who is this for? And is this going to benefit my ideal client? Whoever that might be. And if that's a no, then ask yourself, what is the benefit of this? Like, what is this actually going to do? But. Just, just posting, to say you posted this week, I think is a really unhealthy just mindset to be in. And it gets people into vanity metrics with stuff like that too, like, I only got so many views on this reel, I only have this many followers, like all of that shit that just does not matter at the end of the day. And I, that, that I think is just something that really, It just, it frustrates me so deeply because I, over time, we've just kind of come to think, like, I have to be up at this standard to do all of these things or I'm not successful. And, like you said, like, there's people that don't even go on social media that have, they're like, bursting at the seams with clients, so like, it's, There's also plenty of stylists that are getting tons of new requests from Instagram. So again, it's just not a one size fits all, and I just see so many people, again, it's like a, an attention grabbing hook that's like, you need to do this to grow your business, which once you get into marketing, you realize what that is, and it doesn't affect you emotionally the way that it used to, but like, they hear that, and then they're just like, is this okay? I don't know, I just feel like we get so lost in all of the weeds with all of this that I just want to have more conversations of just, like, It ain't that deep. It's fun. It's good. Use it for what it's worth, but It ain't that deep. Yeah. And I mean, this is kind of like, my own perspective from things too, but like, we, there's so much talk about like, the gurus and the, the Instagram experts, and like, even when it comes to like, hair related things, like I think about when I opened my first suite, like, I didn't have the slightest fucking clue what I was doing. But that doesn't mean that I'm, like, higher than anyone else, like, at the end of the day, none of us have the slightest clue what we're doing, we're just trying to, like, make things work, and, like, we're throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks, and keeping to using what does stick, and, so, I don't know, I just, there's, there's always, like, this weird, like, tier level, I feel like, like, people look at people that are, like, Instagram coaches, for example, as, like, such a higher than tier, and it just, like, it, I don't know. At the end of the day, like, no one really actually knows. You're like, I'm over here just playing with my phone, too, trying to figure it all out. That's all we're all doing. Yeah. We are well over an hour. So I think the sign of this is we can do many more podcasts in the future because we could definitely keep going and going and going. But this has been super good. We touched on so many good things. I'm actually excited for how many little clips I know I'm going to have on this because there wasn't a ton of perfect structure, but we hit so many like. golden nuggets. So I really, really enjoyed that. I will obviously put that link once you get it together in the show notes. Any final thoughts, Caitlin? Anything else you want to say before we wrap up? No, I feel like I've pretty much covered anything, everything. But yeah, I mean, more than anything, like, to you, person listening to this, don't be so hard on yourself. Because you're listening to a business structured podcast because you want to learn and I totally respect that and I get that, but that probably also means that you are being pretty hard on yourself. So give yourself some grace. You're doing great. It doesn't matter where you're at, like, just, just keep going. It's going to be good. Yep. I love that. Thank you. That was a good little message. All right. Thank you for listening friends and I will talk to you all next week.